ABSTRACT
There are over 12 million family businesses in the United States. It is estimated that these businesses generate more than half the country's gross domestic product and generate most of the new jobs as well. The Arthur Andersen/MassMutual American Family Business Survey of 1997 received more than 3,000 responses to questionnaires sent to approximately 37,000 family businesses. The companies that responded accounted for approximately $67 billion in revenues. The mean sales volume was $9 million, the mean number of employees was 50, and the businesses had been in existence an average of 46 years.
